Audio Visual Insights for Web-Conferencing and Live Streaming

USB Camera with Optical Zoom

When you think "webcam" or "USB Camera" most people think of the desktop logitech webcams. And until recently that's what a "USB Camera" was. With the new HuddleCamHD camera line we have added 12X, 18X, 20X and 30X options for larger rooms and spaces where HD video quality is needed. Check out our test footage to see exactly what Optical Zoom on a USB camera does for video conferencing and web-casting during your webinars.

So the question has come up so frequently in the past few months "which camera is better the HuddleCam's or the PTZOptics"? We decided that a blog post was in line to review the details of this question. There are some core differences between the product lines that makes this decision not as hard as it may seem at first. Let's take a look at this decision tree which take the four main video camera requirements into consideration.

Web Conferencing - Only requirement being USB

Traditional Video Conferencing - Only requirement being HDMI or DVI

Broadcast Video - Only requirement being HD-SDI or HDMI

WebCasting - Only requirements being IP Streaming or RTSP/RTMP Streaming

InfoComm 2015 is going to have so many new and exciting products this year we decided to make a short list of the technology you shouldn't miss. In fact, InfoComm published "97% of our attendees say that seeing new products is their #1 reason for coming to InfoComm." If you are coming to InfoComm to see new products than the Innovation Showcase is a must stop by area! Of course distribution companies like Stampede Global are big enough to put on a technology show case of there own. We put together a short list of the booth you won't want to miss.

Stampede made the top of our list this year for one simple reason: the promise to mix video conferencing with the industries top drone manufactures. Stampede is known to "stay ahead of the herd" and by combining video conferencing and ariel drone usage they will definitely be on the cutting edge. The plan, as I was told by Gordon Miller, head of Unified Communications at Stampede Global, is to connect the "drone flight area" with the main Stampede booth. Stampede will have 60'x60' booth this year to demonstrate everything from Vidyo, HuddleCamHD. PTZOptics and the latest Samsung Smart Collaboration Displays. Check out the Stampede presentation schedule here.

How do I select the right camera for my conferencing needs?

How we got here:

Web cams that clip on top of your PC monitor have instigated a revolution in desktop video conferencing made up of a whole array of great web based video conferencing tools, like Skype, Oovoo, Google Hangouts, WebEx, Cisco Jabber, Microsoft Lync, ClearOne Spontania, Zoom.US, Polycom RealPresence, GoToMeeting and many others. These software solutions originated in the consumer market but were quickly adopted by the commercial and professional markets, when their ample benefits were recognized.With this wide ranging adoption of desktop video, the next thought was “Why can’t we use these great solutions in our meeting spaces as well?” And the answer was “You can.” Early adopters of this trend ran into a few issues however. The web cams and audio pods designed for the laptop and desktop were not quite up to the task of capturing the action in a larger meeting space.

USB Cameras with SONY Lens

HuddleCamHD announces three of their new HuddleCamHD USB Pan Tilt Zooms Cameras now come with real certified SONY SE600 lens's. This brings a whole new

level of quality to our HuddleCamHD USB PTZ Camera line for a variety of reasons. First of all, the SONY Quality Assurance process is just about the best in the world. Anyone who knows even a little bit about video conferencing and camera optics knows your picture is only as good as the lens your image sensor is using. Every SONY Lens is manufactured in Japan known for high quality optics ranked right up there with Germany.